The Chair of Energy and Poverty at Comillas Pontifical University commits to carrying out the new National Strategy to tackle Energy Poverty
The Chair of Energy and Poverty at Comillas Pontifical University commits to carrying out the new National Strategy to tackle Energy Poverty.
A new interdisciplinary seminar of the Chair shares the challenges Spain faces from the energy vulnerability of millions of people with the Ministry for Ecological Transition.
Energy poverty in Spain affects 3.5 to 8.1 million people, depending on the indicator used. This is one piece of data collected in the recently approved National Strategy to tackle Energy Poverty 2019-2024 which Alberto Barranco, executive advisor to the Office of the Secretary of State for Energy at the Ministry for Ecological Transition, spoke about at the second edition of the Interdisciplinary Seminar of the Chair of Energy and Poverty at the Comillas Pontifical University.
At this event, which took place at the Naturgy offices in Madrid, Barranco highlighted relevant features of the document such as the establishment of an official definition of energy poverty, a set of indicators for measuring it and some objectives for reducing this situation, which millions of people around Spain are experiencing.
Barranco, who coordinated the drafting and publication of the recent National Strategy to tackle Energy Poverty, explained that achieving these objectives depends on four basic pillars of action, according to the document: suitable assessment of the problem, implementation of palliative measures such as the universal energy rate, implementation of structural measures to improve energy efficiency in homes through refurbishment, and proposals for measures to protect and inform consumers.
The director of the Chair of Energy and Poverty, Professor Efraim Centeno, noted that “the strategy is a milestone that starts a journey,” and welcomed the fact that the success of its recent publication was “the result of an open and participatory process, in which the Ministry paid special attention to the work of synthesising contributions from partners and collaborators that the Chair of Energy and Poverty has been carrying out for some months.” In that regard, he encouraged the attendees to continue actively collaborating to ensure the Chair of Energy and Poverty remains “a forum of questions, support and permanent contrast for the National Strategy to tackle Energy Poverty in Spain to develop in the right way.”
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